Brandon on Uniformzzz
The good news is they have no plans for alternate unis this season. The bad news is Brandon left the door open to future changes including to the helmet. The worst part of the story is Brandon's continued use of the "student athletes love it" line that is such an obvious pretext for what is really just a marketing ploy to sell more jerseys.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2013/05/michigan_alternate_un…
But the chrome helmet will probably be used for only one game, while the mascot will be with us for a long time. I'll go with the helmet.
the uniform stripes were not cool to many of us...Do NOT mess up the best helmet in college football history. Just don't. Thanks
Why wouldn't they? They are getting paid up the wazzooo.
Nike does the same thing though.
Unless....
Underarmerrrrr
but given that we recently ok'd the bumblebee uniforms and Underarmor is outfitting Maryland, I am afraid of what the combination of Underarmour and our suddenly low standards for uniforms will create
UA is a little too high-schooly for me.
that Adidas is this bad a sports uniforms. They have good workout gear and I have actually become an Adidas guy in golf (not shoes-Footjoy always). They are capable of making quality stuff. What is it with uniforms?
I think is more related to the football gear, as a german brand they have lots of experience making sports gear, but not so much talking about football.
I used to play soccer all the time and their gear for that is quality, I loved the predator cleats, way cooler than the vapor nike's cleats, but with football... they just seem sloppy.
say that the problem is not the use of uniformzzz, but the ones that Adidas creates are the worst alternates in the history of mankind. I wanted everybody off my lawn for a long time, but now I don't have a problem if there were some alternate ideas available for limited use. I don't think having blue pants available for both home and away use would be all bad, I could also support an all white for road games if there are no ridiculous designs on the sleeves. Aaaaannnnd, at the risk of an epic neg bombing, I would not object to a block M alternate helmet to be available for infrequent use (This helmet would not shine, it would not change colors with the wind, it would not be a "matte," whatever the hell that is supposed to be, it would be very simple) This would certainly not be a "big-game" helmet, but simply because if there is something that could make a home tilt with Minnesota or Illinois a little more interesting I am all for it.
I had to stop reading after "block M alternate helmet" and throw up into my salad. Wow. No.
"salad" you speak of? And why didn't you just like, aim, away from it? (and if it is good enough for Bo it is good enough for me. Once in a while, mix it up, that is all)
That would be an especially bad idea considering the M (or, more appropriate, upside down W) adorning the Gophers helmets. Or maybe Minnesota could wear alternate helmets with winged gopher stripes on them.
DB: "I'm here to tell you that this notion of, being from time to time in some kind of alternate uniform, is here to stay in college football. You see it more and more across the platform."
What does this even mean? Are we talking about football here?
I thought the same thing. What the fuck is he talking about? It's college football, not a Proctor & Gamble brand category. His constant buzzword diarrhea makes my skin crawl . . . and I'm a Marketing MBA from the Ross B-School. There's a time and a place, you know?
I will say that players do seem to like the alternate uniforms. When Vincent Smith did that AMA on reddit, he was asked which uniforms he liked best and the alternate uniforms were up there.
and loving UM football since 1979 (certainly not bragging) I just want to say I am an old fart who would not mind the chrome helmet. I know that matted finish last year looked fine to me and I do believe it was a test flight (so to speak) for the chrome dome. I do agree with the rest of traditionalists that the uniforms are to be left alone, I did not see anything in regards to the uniform changes that made me say, oh wow I love that., so why bother. If they do anything to change the winged style helmet look for all hell to break loose and protests in front of Dave Brandens office.
I dunno, from everything I've heard, the players and recruits really do like alternate uniforms. And frankly, if this is part of what it takes (I know it's not the only thing) to keep up with today's youth, then I'm all for it. We can't fill our student section, and those students are going to be the future alumni base that will support UM and its sports for years to come. ESPN's Big Ten Blog actually just had an article on this very subject. Things need to be done to enhance the gameday experience for today's kids. It was different for us older folks (I'm not really that old), who went to these games as kids. Then gamedays didn't have to compete with 70" HD screens and the increasingly technological and 'short attention span' twitter type world we have now. Alternate uniforms isn't some magic bullet, but it might be a small step toward ensuring the youth today are actually excited about college football, UM, and acutally going to the game.
You know, I'll play Devil's Advocate here because I don't care one bit what Michigan wears as long as the helmet is winged and the colors are "sun" and blue, but maybe one way to compete with 70" HD TVs is to make the jerseys with unreadable numbers, thereby requiring people to go to the stadium to actually identify the players.
You're kidding yourself if you think that the student section is going to fill up because we have chrome uniformzzz. Maybe there's more competition for attention on gamedays now, but alternate uniforms aren't even a small step toward addressing that.
And the same goes for recruiting (which you didn't bring up, but a lot of people do). If a high schooler is picking teams based on who has the flashiest uniforms, then he's probably not the kind of guy who we want as a Michigan Man anyway. And anyway - take a look at the top recruiting teams. They're almost entirely traditionally-styled uniforms, which makes sense, because the top teams don't need to resort to cheap gimmicks to try to appeal to kids.
You'll notice I never said alternate uniforms were the key to attracting students. But I do believe they can be a small part of a bigger push to create some more excitement surrounding gamedays. And as far as recruiting, first, every single one of those top recruiting teams have done alternate uniforms recently. Heck, ND went crazy alternate this year and last. But you can't just pull out that list and say "alternate uniforms aren't needed". That list has a team which has probably the best (or at least most successful) coach of the last half century (Alabama) in a region stocked with talent, then a list of the major schools in the most talent producing states: Ohio, Fl, heck the south in general of Alabama, Lousiana, Texas, Georgia. UM does not have those advantages right now. I could also counter with Oregon as the extreme example of putting a school on the map with major re-branding and a savy coacing hire. I don't think an alternate uniform will sell a recruit, but it can make a recruit think to himself 'cool', and if that little bit puts us over the edge, then I'll take it. Being the best team is the most important thing (as long as the colors are still Maize and Blue, and the helmets have wings. I still think that shouldn't be touched).
The great thing about alternate jerseys is that only the players have to wear them. If something as silly as laundry can affect your fandom, you need to get a new hobby.
...for a helmet change seems to be pretty small (to me, at least).
"The winged helmet I think was -- there was some polling done -- and it was characterized as the most (famous), most important, most iconic, most popular helmet in college football," he said. "So, it's going to be a big decision for us to ever make a change to the helmet, and if we do, it'd clearly be for a one game kind of deal.
"I would never say never. But, it's one of those things where unlike a lot of other programs, where the helmet just becomes an accessory to the uniform, our helmet is an integral part of what defines Michigan. And to the extent we ever do something one-off with the helmet, we have to be really careful with it."
They made a change for the entire 2011 season, so "clearly" is a little strong if the team makes a change and the captains want to keep it like they did 2 years ago.
I would agree. I don't think Brandon left a significant possibility that this would happen, given how he phrased this. He definitely realizes that, above any other portion of the uniform really, the winged helmet is perhaps the most significant contirbutor to brand equity for Michigan football. Actually, and Brandon touches on this, it really goes beyond that in the sense that the helmet is also identified with the university itself on some levels, so there is also that consideration. Michigan actually gets specific mention in a lot of brand management studies as an example of, by and large, "doing it right", and I would assume Brandon knows this too. Beyond the numbers in 2011 and the Outback Bowl matte helmet, I would think anything more drastic would be a long, long discussion, if anything came of it at all.
Brandon was asked about it specifically. It's not an idea he threw out there.
It's difficult to argue that the student athletes don't love the alternates. ESPN exit poll proved that and recruits tweet about it all the time. I'm fine with alternates every now and then, though I'd prefer if they didn't get too crazy. Play off history for any home changes, and there's a little more flexibility with the away jerseys in my opinion. My ratings of the alternates:
Sugar Bowl -- 10/10. Away jersey, and I loved them.
UTL -- 8.5/10. They grow on me with hindsight. Looked great on the field, terrible on fans.
Outback Bowl -- 6.5/10. Actually liked them. Away jersey. Numbers were a little tough to see on the sunny day, but the photos and close ups on TV look great. I think they were a fresh take and I liked the helmet finish.
Cowboy Classic -- 4/10. Something about the maize on the sleeves. And the outcome
@MSU -- 2 /10. Though I liked the UTLs, I didn't like these. Plus we lost. Might have been a 3 aside from the disappointment.
We all seem to like the ones that we win in. I'm not sure we would all be wearing the UTL jerseys if we got blown out. I do think the Outback uni's would have looked sweet with blue numbers outlined in maize instead of the other way around. Love the maize block M on the shoulders.
Yeah man having Nick Sheridan at quarterback was totally because Michigan used the same uniforms they did in 06 when they were one late hit call away from the National Championship.
Shut up.
Yeah that's what caused Alabama to lose all those games before Saban showed up! It was the uniforms!
Like basketball, Adidas will release long sleeve football jerseys! Woo can't wait!
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Horace Prettyman approves.
but he might do something the same - so they might do the same UTL unis as 2 years ago, or some other bumblebee stuff.
i see what you are doing, mr brandon.
I keep holding out for ACTUAL throwbacks cause I think we've got some pretty good ones we could legitimately bust out of the wardrobe closet. In the early 70's we went all white with the away uni's for a couple of years. I think dressed up with some additional yellow side piping these would look pretty cool AND what satisfy both the tradionalists and the kids wanting something "new".
i think touching st. tressel did something to your brain
think you can say we "sucked." In those generations, there were like 4 conference championships and 5 BCS games. We were not Alabama circa now, but "sucked?" And kids do know about the winged helmets.
Can I see your market research please? I would assume you have something to draw that many stated-as-fact conclusions.
age who was railing on about "kids today". He doesn't have any, mind you. After my 10 minute discourse on my daughter's accomplishments including her Michigan Engineering degree, I concluded that he and his generalizations about young people were full of shit.
Guess what I think about your generalizations?
Show me one piece of objective proof that "none of the recruits care about the Winged Helmet".
I am thankful that most of our recruits seem to realize that it isn't about the next 4 years, it is about the rest of their life.
Is it too much to ask to just go back to the 97 Nike's? Regular helmets, regular facemasks, regular jerseys, etc.